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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27550894">Promise</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/marmolady/pseuds/marmolady'>marmolady</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>A New Reality: Endless Ending [16]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Endless Summer (Visual Novel)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>F/F</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-11-14</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-11-14</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 18:08:46</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Mature</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>3,939</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27550894</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/marmolady/pseuds/marmolady</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Endless Ending. It’s been a year since the Catalysts sealed themselves in their save haven of La Huerta. As Quinn and Michelle reflect and imagine what their future can look like, their burgeoning romance reaches new heights.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Quinn Kelly/Michelle Nguyen</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>A New Reality: Endless Ending [16]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1366216</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Promise</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>This is set during the second chapter of my long fic, ‘Broken Chains’. If you’ve read it, some of this will be familiar. The third chapter of BC picks up Michelle and Quinn where they leave off here.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    
<p></p><div class="">
<p></p><div class=""><p>It had been a year. A whole year, impossible as it felt, since the island of La Huerta had been sealed off forever; its inhabitants safe while the world beyond burned. A year since all hope of going home died. A year since twelve friends had looked out to a burning horizon and said goodbye to the world that had been, then held on to one another as they took refuge in a new one.</p></div><div class=""><p>Much had changed in those twelve months. A whole new village had risen, not far from the foot of the great tree of Elyys’tel; an undertaking that had been a welcome source of purpose for a group of young people who had at times felt helplessly lost. From their fledgling sanctuary, the Catalysts had taken steps to ingratiate themselves into the new world of theirs-- some with rather more trepidation than others. Even those who had struggled immensely during those hard early days had risen to the challenge. Through it all, the group had been a constant; a family that could be relied upon through the darkest of nights. <em>This </em>night, was one of commemoration-- of celebration and mourning, of hope and grief-- and the Catalysts were seeing it out together.</p></div></div><div class="">
  <p>Tucked behind a narrow strip of tropical vegetation, two of the party sat apart from the main group, watching the sun dip below the horizon, leaving behind the ominous glow that had become so familiar.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Michelle sighed deeply, but found herself comforted by Quinn’s delicate touch to the back of her neck. “It would be so beautiful if we didn’t know what it was…,” she murmured.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>In the burning light, Quinn’s already flaming hair took an otherworldly glow. She wistfully looked out to sea, never letting her hand stop caressing the neck and shoulders of the woman who’d become her dearest friend, and then something more. “I guess most things are beautiful from the right angle. That line on the horizon… that’s the bubble keeping us safe. A miracle. It can’t bring back what we’ve lost, but… the people we love who are here, they’re safe. You’re safe. I don’t know what I’d do if anything happened to you, Michelle. I hope you can be happy, somehow.”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Michelle rested her head on Quinn’s shoulder and snuggled in. She’d been getting closer… closer to happy. But then, happiness was a confusing tangle of relief, and guilt, and hope. How could she be happy when her mother was gone? When the whole world was…? Michelle knew she could share those inner conflicts with Quinn, and never be judged, only heard. And so often, she’d find that those conflicts were not hers to fight alone.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“I’ve always been so focused on the destination. If I couldn’t make it-- what was the point?” She sighed again. What was in her heart had grown; with every step of her rise from the ashes of a life lost. Quinn needed to know; she <em>had </em>to… that Michelle was capable of carrying on towards that future because of the love they’d shared. Because Quinn had held her as she sobbed, and accepted refuge in Michelle’s arms in return. Because together they found small ways of making even the end of the world bearable. The life that stretched out before them was unexpected, and frightening, but it was also beautiful. In Quinn’s wisdom, borne of facing a life cut short, Michelle had been able to find her own path to peace. And she could only hope-- <em>fiercely </em>hope-- that she could offer a semblance of the same.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“Losing it all…,” Michelle continued. “I thought it was gonna break me. After Sean… after what the girls did… I didn’t think I could risk my heart again. But with you… it doesn’t feel like a risk. You make me feel unafraid; of love, of the future, whatever it might be. You made me realise how precious every moment is.” She sat up straight, and tilted Quinn’s sweet face towards hers with a gentle touch of her finger. “And I want to spend every single one with you.”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Quinn’s face shone with a smile as warm as sunshine. “Oh, ‘Chelle… I want that too-- more than anything. You are the strongest, most compassionate person I know. I guess… what I’m trying to say is… I love you.”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Heat rising in her cheeks, Michelle closed the distance between them, her lips brushing tenderly against Quinn’s, then helplessly falling deeper into a passionate kiss. Kissing her like she never had before. Desire, comfort, euphoria….</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>There was a crash of vegetation, and Taylor stepped through the undergrowth. Michelle hastily backed up, her cheeks now a flaming scarlet.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“Crap!” Taylor cried, “I think I’m interrupting…”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“It’s fine! It’s fine.” Michelle quickly tidied her hair. As much as she loved Taylor, good as a sister to her, she really didn’t need an audience while she was trying to come to grips with a new side of herself.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Quinn was still beaming and couldn’t hold back a giggle at the look on Taylor’s face. “I guess it’s kinda rude for us to sneak away from the party like this.”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“Hey, I’ll leave you guys to it…” There was a triumphant gleam to Taylor’s eye, making it quite clear that she would be nothing if not supportive of the union she’d stumbled upon-- hell, if that smile was anything to go by, she was damn near <em>gleeful </em>at the development. “I just came by to tell you that Aleister and Grace were back from their honeymoon. But I want to spend some time with you both soon. It’s really, <em>really </em>important to me.”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“Of course.”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Michelle averted eye contact, not knowing why she was so embarrassed. It wasn’t as if <em>Taylor </em>of all people was going to judge her for kissing a girl. Stupid insecurities, stupid old fears from the world they’d left behind, one that was often not nearly so accepting. She prayed that Quinn wouldn’t see her discomfort as shame. No-- she wouldn’t just pray; she’d make <em>sure </em>Quinn knew exactly how she felt. “We’re just coming o--“ <em>Shit. Did I really almost just say ‘coming out’? </em>“--coming over to join you guys now anyway.”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>As Taylor slipped back into the bushes, Michelle turned back to Quinn, her eyes full of earnest affection, and, knowing it would be felt as if hollered from the rooftops, she mouthed, “<em>I love you too</em>.”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Quinn placed a little kiss on her sweetheart’s forehead. “We’ll continue this later.” With a cheeky wink, she took Michelle’s hand and they followed Taylor back into the thick of the action.</p>
  <p> </p>
  <p> </p>
</div><div class="">
  <p> It was a well-known truth among the Catalysts; one should <em>never </em>underestimate the power of a Raj Rage to lift the spirits of anyone who stumbled into it. A wild pool party had given way to feasting, which had given way to a dance party that no doubt could be heard all the way back at the old Celestial. Had scores of Elyys’tel’s residents not come down from the treetop to engage in celebration, it was likely they’d not have had a wink of sleep. For the Vaanti, the anniversary was a joyous occasion, a commemoration of the safe end of Raan’losti. The notion of a world beyond La Huerta was foreign to almost all Vaanti; that such a world had been lost barely registered. Only those near to the Catalysts felt the grief that this day stirred. Early in the night, Varyyn had publicly paid his respects to the burning world beyond, his eyes welling as he absorbed Diego’s sorrow, sharing in it. Quinn had held onto Michelle’s hand, taking on her strength. Of all the twelve, it was Michelle who’d fought the reality of their new existence the hardest… and, Quinn knew, the one who’d overcome the most to find acceptance, even hope, for the future that lay before them on La Huerta. A gentle squeeze told her, ‘we are in this together’.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Now, bittersweet speeches had had their time; the twelve were taking comfort in the laughter that came so easily in one another’s company. The dance floor was jumping, and with most of the group having drank a few, that laughter was <em>loud.</em></p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Newly back from her post-Niala’rei honeymoon, Grace was bouncing all over the place and giggling until she was just about falling over. Quinn, ever the superhero even without the Island’s Heart to power her up, caught her friend in her arms.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“Got you!” she laughed. “Still on that ‘just married’ high, by the looks of it?”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>With a hiccough, Grace put her arms around Quinn and hugged her tight. “I’m so <em>lucky</em>!” she exclaimed. “L-look at all of us. The best friends… the <em>best </em>friends. And now I’ve even got two sisters in law.” She waved a hand towards Taylor and Estela, dancing together on the other side of the floor. “We were right, you know? Ev-everything we need. <em>Hooray for paradise!”</em></p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Quinn could only laugh. It was infectious, and an utter <em>relief </em>after all the tears that had been spilled. Blissfully happy looked so good on Grace. It was tragic, utterly tragic that it had taken all this for her to be free of the cage her mother had kept her in. Grace, Quinn knew, had never been the ‘ugly duckling’ that her mother seemed to see-- she’d always been, and always would be, an elegant swan.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“Yep,” she concurred, her gaze roaming to the BhandarBar, where Michelle had been watching wistfully from a stool. “Here’s to friends, and paradise, and happily ever after. Speaking of….”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Aleister staggered over. “My darling, <em>there </em>you are!” He opened his arms wide. “You know --<em>hic</em>-- that I am far too ine--inebri-- <em>hic</em>--inebriated to dance without your arms to steady me.” He bowed to her dramatically. “Beautiful lady, my dearest Grace, queen of my heart; may I --<em>hic</em>-- have this dance?”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“<em>Oh, </em>kiss me, you fool!”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Quinn giggled helplessly as she left the lovebirds to their dance, and sat down at the bar. “I think ‘drunk Grace’ might be my new favourite thing!”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Pulling a scandalised face, Michelle crossed her arms. “I’m <em>sorry! </em>I thought <em>I </em>was your favourite thing?”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Quinn just pulled her into a hug. <em>That </em>went without saying. “Come on-- let’s go for a walk. I can’t have you jealous now, can I?”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p> It was inevitable that sooner or later, Quinn and Michelle would find themselves back in their favourite spot by the edge of beach, where together they’d look out to the sea… to the world they’d left behind. Michelle sank down, reclining into the soft sand and looking up at her companion with stars in her eyes.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“Hey….” She winked.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“Hey….” Quinn discretely pecked a kiss to Michelle’s cheek as she sat down. “I could have sworn I just saw the prettiest smile on your face. I’m so glad you’re doing okay tonight-- you <em>are</em>, aren’t you?”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“I didn’t think I could be, but actually, yes. Yes, I am.”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“It makes <em>me </em>happy to hear it,” Quinn purred. Even in the shadows, she could see the pleasured flush upon Michelle’s face.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Then, there was Taylor again. What was new?</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“<em>This time</em>, I’m not interrupting, right? I was very careful,” she checked as she sat down.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Quinn giggled and put her head on Taylor’s shoulder. “Thank you for your discretion.”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“Joking aside, it’s really nice to see how close you two are-- whatever it is. You are two of the most compassionate people I know, and you both deserve to be cared for by someone like that.”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Michelle gave a dry laugh. “Compassionate? Me? You’re doing Quinn a major disservice lumping her with me. I’ve got a tongue like a knife.”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“Yeah, but that’s not the heart of who you are. When one of us is struggling, you’re first to jump in and try and fix everything whether they like it or not.”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Quinn’s eyes met with Michelle’s, across Taylor who was suddenly invisible between them. “You don’t see it, but it’s there plain to see. You have the biggest heart of anyone I know.”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Feeling as though she might melt on the spot, Michelle bit her lip, momentarily wishing she could hide the red glow in her cheeks, before realising that <em>to hell with it</em>, being vulnerable with the people she loved so much didn’t make her vulnerable at all. Sitting beside the woman she’d been slowly, quietly falling for since they’d built their home on this island, and the courageous leader who’d become a treasured sister, it was just so <em>comfortable</em>.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>She squeezed Taylor’s arm. “You… wanted to speak with both of us. Is everything okay?”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Taylor seemed to struggle to get the words out, and there was a weird flicker of nerves across her face… not like her at all. “I just wanted to make sure <em>you’re</em> okay. I mean, this is a celebration, but it’s a day of mourning as well. You lost so much that day. It’s never gonna be the same for me as it is for you, but I need you to know that I care. And that I love you.”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“Oh, Taylor!” Quinn huddled closer. “We’d be blind not to know that. I’m… okay. I don’t now if I’ll ever completely get my head around it; my parents being gone and me being here. My whole life I’d wondered how they’d move on when my Rotterdam’s finally took me. I never could have dreamed that I’d be the one living on.” Seeing the deep sadness in Taylor’s face, she added, “Every day I have is a gift. That hasn’t changed. And now I have so many… with people I love, who I’ll never feel a burden to.”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“You were never a burden.” Michelle spoke with a firm authority. If there was one thing she would not tolerate, it was the woman she loved putting herself down. “Not when you were sick, not ever.”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Taylor nodded resolutely. “You were always our ball of sunshine. And oh my god, did we need that.”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Quinn’s cheeks became a little rosy. “You two are so sweet.”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“And there was Meech doubting it-- crazy!”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Michelle gave a small appreciative laugh. It was a compliment she’d long struggled to take, but… with a little help, she was just about starting to believe it. At least from Quinn. Always from Quinn, for she’d never be dishonest with her. “Fine. I’ll take it.”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“Good,” said Taylor, and she moved to get up, brushing sand from her legs. “Well, with my mushy stuff out the way, I’ll leave you to it.” As she walked away, Quinn and Michelle scooted together, and their arms entwined. She gave them a wink. “Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“Goodnight, Taylor,” Quinn chuckled. She pressed a kiss to the cheek of the woman beside her. She looked out to the burning horizon, and let it be something beautiful. A miracle that had given her a chance of living in the face of all impossibility. A miracle that kept her friends safe… and Michelle. A future with Michelle; it <em>was </em>something beautiful.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“It really is amazing,” she murmured, “how when we’re all together, everything can feel normal, even now. All of us living-- laughing, <em>dancing</em>-- despite all odds.”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“Just dancing?” Michelle smirked. She brought her lips behind Quinn’s ear and whispered against her neck. The prickle of rising goosebumps in her wake sent something pulsing right to her core. <em>To hell with it. </em>“Maybe I want more. We had some unfinished business that I can’t let slide. Can we go somewhere?”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Quinn’s stomach seemed to do a flip. There was nothing she wanted more. “Of course,” she said, softly. “Do you want to go back to my place?”</p>
  <p> </p>
  <p> </p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Up on the grassy hill, Quinn’s small wooden home was an easy walk from the central hub that was now alive with the sounds of a raging party, and overlooking a calm sea. As they came to the door, Michelle threw away her inhibitions, and drew Quinn into a heated kiss.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>She came away with a gasp. “I’m so <em>tired </em>of hiding, babe. I want to call you that, and I want people to see you walk by and say ‘<em>shit, Michelle has scored</em>’. I want to kiss you and not worry that anyone might change what they think of me, because, actually, <em>I don’t give a fuck</em>.”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Quinn kissed her. Slowly, savouring each brush and press of her lips against her lover’s. It had been a long road that had brought them there. Nervous, chaste kisses in corners… shared glances across the breakfast table… long, <em>long </em>talks in which they bared their hearts and souls.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“It’s yours if you want it. I want to be with you ‘Chelle. God, I don’t think I’ve ever wanted anything more.” With one hand on Michelle’s back, as if it would ever be capable of letting go, she opened the door. “Come in. We might as well get comfortable.”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Michelle stepped in ahead, exhaling a bundle of nerves. She’d held back for too long. “How’s your bedroom for comfortable?”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>For a split second, Quinn’s eyes widened, and then her expression was all warmth… and longing. “Of course.”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>It wasn’t as though Quinn hadn’t entertained Michelle in her room many, many times before. Some nights, they’d crashed out in the same bed, taking comfort in contact when so much dear and familiar was beyond reach. They’d comfortably dressed and undressed in front of one another on countless occasions, enjoyed impassioned make-out sessions on the bed wearing just their underwear or nothing at all. Boundaries had been taken down slowly, always respecting Michelle’s need to recover from her last relationship. But tonight was different. Both women knew where this is was going, and the air between them seemed to crackle with electricity.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Quinn flicked on the lamp, which gave a soft light, soft and romantic. “You’re ready for this? You definitely want to do this n--?”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Michelle had already shrugged off her shirt and was beginning to unclasp her bra. “I think actions speak louder than words; but, yes. I want to do this now. Right now.”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“Well,” Quinn managed to get out, recovering her breath even as her eyes roamed the figure that was being exposed just for her. The most stunning woman she’d ever laid eyes on. “How could I even dream of arguing?”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>She stripped off her top half, and her shorts, then held out her hand, taking Michelle’s in her own and leading her to a tidily made bed. Her heart pounded wildly, the throb between her legs near unbearable.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“You are so, so beautiful, ‘Chelle,” she breathed. “So, <em>so </em>beautiful. And I love you.”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“I love you. Being with you… maybe the world is burning right now but I… it doesn’t <em>hurt. </em>Because all I can feel is the way you look at me. I love you, <em>I love you.”</em></p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Her eyes never leaving Quinn’s, Michelle gently brought their joined hands to her chest, inviting her lover to touch her. She leaned into the feel of Quinn’s soft fingers as they caressed her, and her eyes fluttered shut as a moaning exhale escaped her. “<em>Quinn.”</em></p>
</div><div class="">
  <p><em>“Mmm…,” </em>Quinn hummed, relishing the touch, the feel of her lover’s bare chest, the thrill of the response she received in return. God, she’d wanted this for so long. She dipped down, leaving a trail of laboured kisses across Michelle’s chest, to the peak of her breasts, feeling the rise and fall heighten.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“Is this okay?” she checked in, glancing up to a flushed face and a heady smile.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“What, the fact that you just stopped? Not okay at all,” Michelle replied in a breathless laugh. She draped herself around Quinn’s shoulders as they bounced with giggles, tracing swirls across them, a trail that meandered down to the small of her back, soon met with the sound of pleasured gasps. “You may continue.”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>It was a giggly affair… so <em>easy, </em>as if this was what they’d always been doing, what they’d always been meant to do. Any shyness Michelle might have anticipated vanished into the air; this was just her and Quinn, loving one another long into the night. She kissed along Quinn’s long abdominal scar while her fingers worked their magic; unsure at first-- this was a <em>lot </em>different to touching herself-- but quickly gaining confidence. It didn’t that she probably wasn’t all that great at it yet; Quinn was simply euphoric to have her that near, and to chase sounds of pleasure out of her lover in return.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Riding out the afterglow, Quinn snuggled in close, the scent of Michelle’s hair, her perfume, just <em>her,</em> making her weak, and yet so strong. In her arms, she was Superhero Quinn all over again. The fireworks kept coming, warming her soul, painting it with colour. Quinn could put her brush to canvas when morning came, but she knew she could never capture <em>this.</em></p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Michelle kept on touching her, as if addicted. Maybe she was. Her beautiful Quinn… the remarkable, courageous woman who saw every truth of Michelle… and cherished her. Quinn didn’t need protecting; she knew that now. She wanted to embrace her for everything she was; not ‘the dying girl’, but a heroine and a friend, a creative spirit and a ray of sunshine on dark days.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“This is going to sound weird, but I always found sex to be kind of… therapeutic. Like it was, I guess, freeing.”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“That’s not weird. It makes sense. I’m guessing it’s like… your body is on <em>your side </em>for once?”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Quinn smiled, tucking a stray hair behind Michelle’s ear. “Not holding me back, yeah. I always wanted to push the limits of just how good my body could feel.” She chuckled darkly. “I didn’t exactly have the projected life expectancy to waste time holding back or feeling embarrassed about what I wanted, sexually. I know I’ve scared people away with how forward I can be-- not so much anymore, but sex is always going to be a big deal for me.”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“Your confidence is hot. <em>Really </em>hot.” Michelle sighed happily as Quinn tenderly stroked her cheek. “It’s a long time since I felt this good about myself during sex, so thank you.”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“Thank you for trusting me. I know it’s not easy.”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“Trust isn’t easy. Trusting <em>you</em>… is easier. I think it was myself I haven’t been able to trust all these months. Like I was scared I’d fall too hard and somehow destroy my lifeline. That’s what you’ve been, Quinn.”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“You’ve been that for me. All this time I’ve been spending with you… some days I can even forget I’m supposed to be grieving.”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Spent, Michelle struggled to keep her eyes open. She was safe; Quinn’s slender arms tangled around her own. Was this their future? This could be… nice. Actually, nice. Something like happiness, even holed up in their small refuge at the end of the world.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“I get it,” she said. “I really do.” She closed her eyes, and gently pressed her forehead to Quinn’s. “I can’t believe you’ve actually got me excited about the future.”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“Then we better do this again sometime. Maybe… <em>all the time. </em>If you like.”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“Promise?” Michelle looked up, her dark, twinkling eyes meeting Quinn’s blue ones, the laugh there lifting her spirits all the higher. <em>Promise. Promise this is us. You and me, making something special, something ours.</em></p>
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  <p>Quinn’s heart swelled at that look, feeling the love that was pouring forth. <em>I love you… I love you… I love you. </em>She pressed a soft kiss to her partner’s nose.</p>
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  <p><em>“</em>Cross my heart.”</p>
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